By Saniya Ghanoui -- July 1, 2010
In his first speech on immigration, President Barack Obama called on Congress to take action and move past "the pervasive sentiment in Washington that tackling such a thorny and emotional issue is inherently bad politics."
Speaking at American University, Obama acknowledged the need to fix both the borders and the legalization process.
"The presence of so many illegal immigrants makes a mockery of all those who are going through the process of immigrating legally," said Obama. "Indeed, after years of patchwork fixes and ill-conceived revisions, the legal immigration system is as broken as the borders."
He said it is the government's responsibility to protect the borders, but businesses also need to be held accountable for employing illegal immigrants.
The White House said Obama's speech is in reaction to recent developments regarding immigration, notably the new tough anti-immigrant law in Arizona and the response it has received around the country.
Calling the new law a result of high "levels of frustration across the country," Obama said the Arizona legislation violates the rights of American citizens and legal immigrants.
Obama also said immigration reform is a federal issue. If each state applies its own immigration regulation, he said the United States would "face the prospect that different rules for immigration will apply in different parts of the country- a patchwork of local immigration rules where we all know once clear national standard is needed."
Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., put forward legislation to force illegal immigrants to pay fines and back taxes, perform community service and prove they can speak English before attaining legal status. Obama endorsed the immigration reform proposal in his speech.
Obama said the "borders have been porous for decades...the problems is greatest along our Southern border." Recently, Obama sent 1,200 National Guard troops to the border, 500 of which will be in Arizona.
